1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 115 Party Countdown

Several bathrooms in Ronan's house have become tourist attractions in Lourmarin.

People kept finding various reasons to go in and take a look.

In fact, the villagers must have seen similar bathrooms in real life or on TV. They were just too curious and didn’t understand why Ronan designed the bathrooms in so many different styles.

Ronan was too lazy to explain his design intentions to everyone, so he just hid in the donkey shed to make things.

The first thing he chose to make was a chair.

Judging from the current popularity of Ronan's family, the countdown to holding the party has begun.

Old Karl and Louis went to Cannes for fun. Maybe when they come back and hear the big news about Lourmarin, they will come to his house to visit the bathroom together.

Make 10 first, just in case.

The first step was to draw a picture, which was what Zoe taught him. Once he drew the picture, what he needed to do next would become clear.

With a solid foundation in art and the knowledge in his head, Ronan drew a sketch in less than half an hour.

The structure of the chair is simple, but there is a difficult point to note - the comfort of people sitting on it needs to be considered.

Therefore, the chair back should be cut into a slightly curved surface. The curved chair back will prevent you from feeling tired after sitting for a while.

This difficulty is not complicated to solve, it just requires enough patience.

Ronan first made three back panels that matched the size.

Then mark the starting point 35mm inward from both ends, and then mark the deepest concave dimension of 5mm in the center of the back panel.

Use a bird plane to plane along the starting point little by little into shape. Don't be in a hurry here and never exceed the deepest marked point.

The bottom of the bird plane is very short, and the handles are located on both sides. When using it, you need to slightly rotate the plane body so that you can plan out the required angle.

After the planed backboard is polished with sandpaper, it can be used.

Ronan picked up a polished backboard and looked at it from left to right.

He was already imagining it, leaning back in a chair made of it to feel it.
"If I want to sit more comfortably, why not add two more armrests?" Ronan thought, stroking his chin.

This is probably the fun of making your own furniture.

Watching it take shape little by little, each step will generate more and more interesting ideas, and then work hard to realize these ideas one by one!

Time flies when you are quietly doing woodworking.

When Ronan was interrupted by Xiao Hei's cry, he suddenly realized that the first chair was almost done and might be ready in half a day or most of the day.

This was much shorter than the three-day construction period he had previously envisioned.

Xiao Hei only barks when a stranger appears, which means there is someone at the door.

Ronan closed the door of the donkey shed and walked out to find that the people who came this time were not villagers who came to watch the fun, but the village chief Blanco.

Blanco had been to Ronan's house twice, but both times he was accompanied by other people. This time he came alone, which made Ronan wonder if he came as an individual? Was his purpose also to visit his bathroom with a very different style?

"Hello Mr. Blanc." Ronan walked over slowly.

"Oh, you are here!" Blanco was startled by Ronan who came out from the other side.

"Is there anything wrong?" Ronan opened the door and gestured to Xiao Hei that the situation was safe. It immediately calmed down, but its eyes were still alert.

Ronan really hoped that Xiao Hei could use his cleverness to find truffles.

"Nothing, I was just passing by. I thought I hadn't seen you for a long time, so I came to see you." Blanco sat on the sofa and asked politely, "I didn't disturb you, did I?"

Ronan took two glasses and a bottle of pink wine:

"No, no, of course not."

In Provence, guests are entertained with wine. If the host offers other drinks, it means they do not welcome the guest.

Blanco told Ronan that the number of tourists to Lourmarin during the Labor Day holiday was more than double that of Easter.

In less than half a month, the traffic has increased so much, which shows that their "revitalization" plan has found the right direction.

Before the real traffic peak arrives in the summer, Lourmarin Village will continue to invite magazines and media to visit, and they will still promote Ronan as a "feature".

What Blanco talked about was something that Ronan was interested in, and Ronan listened very carefully and attentively, but as they were talking he suddenly felt something was not right.

Blanco said he was just passing by and came to take a look 'by the way'.

But everyone in Provence knows that once someone drinks more than three glasses of wine at your house, it is not just a simple "drop in", he must have something to ask you.

And Blanco was already on his fourth drink.

Even if rosé wine tastes better, you shouldn't drink so much and not leave, right?
Ronan thought of something and took the initiative to invite:
"Would you like to see the newly renovated bathrooms in my house?"

Blanco is from Hautes-Pyrénées and came to Provence to live more than ten years ago. He used to be a filmmaker.

Hautes-Pyrénées is a pastoral region in France, where residents see more animals than people every day and are not as 'direct' and 'passionate' as the people of Provence.

Ronan guessed that he might be too embarrassed to speak.

"Oh, no, no, no, that's not necessary." Blanco looked at Ronan and asked, "Were you an interior designer before?"

Ronan nodded:

"Yes."

"It's a great profession." Blanco said, holding his glass. "No wonder he can design such a great bathroom."

Ronan found it very funny:

"But you haven't seen it yet."

Blanco took another sip of his wine. “But I heard from the villagers that your bathroom is as beautiful as the Allinde Dance Hall.”

The Allind Dance Hall is located in the old town center of Apt and is famous for its striptease shows.

Whenever the farmers got drunk, they would protest in the old tavern:

Why is there no 'Allinde Show' in Lourmarin?!

Then a drunk with a big beard would come in and dance in a coquettish manner.

"My house is a proper bathroom." Ronan used a Provencal joke to ease the awkwardness.

Blanco's glass was empty again, and Ronan asked as he went to get the second bottle of rosé:

"What do you need me to do?"

Ronan began to miss the 'direct' and 'passionate' people of Provence.

How did this guy become the village chief when he is so 'reserved'?
Blanco clasped his hands together:
"I do want to ask you for a small favor."

Ronan said calmly:

"If it can help the 'revitalization' of Lourmarin, I'm happy to help."

Lourmarin has been "revitalized" and Ronan will be able to make more money.

But this sentence also has an implicit meaning - I can provide help with things that are beneficial to me, but forget about things that have nothing to do with me.

Blanco heard the second meaning in Ronan's words and understood his attitude, so he was even more embarrassed to say:
“I’m not sure it will necessarily help the ‘revitalisation’ of Lourmarin, but it is now seriously hindering the ‘revitalisation’ of Lourmarin.”

Ronan looked up in confusion:
"what's up?"

Blanc stopped Ronan from opening a second bottle of rosé:

"Do you have time to come with me to a place where we can have a couple of drinks?"

Ronan took a rare look at the clock on the wall:

"can."

Blanco finally left the sofa. Ronan thought they were going to leave, but Blanco suddenly said:
"Before I leave, can I use your bathroom?"

When the weather gets hot, people in Provence tend to get up early to finish their day's work, so everyone eats lunch and dinner early.

There should be many customers in each restaurant at 4 pm, but a restaurant in the central area of Lourmarin is doing very little business at the moment, and the owner even has time to sit outside and smoke.

"Hello, Koeman." Blanco took Ronan to the door of the restaurant.

The boss saw that two guests had finally arrived and stood up to greet them warmly:
"Hello Blanco, would you like to sit inside or outside?"

Blanco pointed inside the restaurant:

"One glass of aniseed and one glass of rosé."

Restaurant owner Coman put the cigarette in his mouth and shrugged his shoulders:

"I don't have anything like that for women and children to drink."

"Two glasses of aniseed." Ronan didn't care much.

There are 5 restaurants in Lourmarin. Ronan has been to Madame chelse's and Jules's. He often passes by the others but has never had the chance to go in.

After entering the restaurant, Ronan's vision suddenly went dark.

This restaurant looks like an antique dug out from a basement during the Roman period. The stone walls are exposed without any decoration. There are no modern elements, only traces of history.

The furniture, tables and chairs are also in simple solid wood color, without any decoration or patterns.

In fact, Ronan likes the style here very much. Alan and Freddy's house is also like this. But it is not suitable as a restaurant.

Coman put the aniseed down and went out to smoke.

Blanco moved his gaze from outside the restaurant to Ronan:
"You should have guessed why I brought you here. Tourists would rather stand on the street in the sun and eat country bread than eat here, but they complain that Lourmarin doesn't have enough restaurants to accommodate them. The government has received several complaints recently."

Villagers rarely go out to eat, so the restaurants in Lourmarin are all for tourists.

However, the tourism industry in Lourmarin is not well developed. Half of the months of each year are off-season, making it difficult to make money, and the villagers are unwilling to open a business.

"You want me to help 'design' this place?" Ronan asked, looking around.

Blanco nodded with relief:

"Yes, we hope there will be a 'change' here."

Ronan looked at the boss outside and said:
"Do they agree?"

Blanco took a sip of aniseed:

"Koeman doesn't want to change this place. He said it would remind him of his youth and the time when he first got married to his wife. He loves his wife very much. But we guess it's probably because of money. You can see that this place doesn't make money. The government may be able to allocate some funds to support him to do this, but not too much."

While the two were talking, Coman's wife came out from the kitchen and shouted to her husband:

"We're out of garlic, tomatoes, and lettuce. Go buy some."

She was a lady with clean and neatly combed hair, even though her hair was gray.

Coman waved inside and left with a cigarette in his mouth. Judging from the direction, it should be the vegetable store in the village.

Ronan retracted his gaze and asked Blanco:
“Do you think the reason this place doesn’t attract customers is simply because it’s not as well decorated as other restaurants?”

Blanco nodded:
"Is not it?"

Ronan took a sip of anise liquor, his expression twisted slightly. He hadn't tasted such a stimulating flavor for several months.
"You think too simply. The poor business here is definitely not just due to the decoration."

　Thanks to [WitcherGool] for the reward, and also thanks to the friends who voted for the monthly ticket and recommendation ticket. Thank you for your support~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)